AWS is bringing the cloud on prem with Outposts

AWS has always been the pure cloud vendor, and even though it has given a nod to hybrid, it is now fully embracing it. Today in conjunction with VMware, it announced a pair of options to bring AWS into the data center.

Yes, you read it correctly. You can now put AWS into your data center with AWS hardware, the same design they use in their own data centers. The two new products are part of AWS Outposts.

There are two Outposts variations — VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts and AWS Outposts. The first uses the VMware control panel. The second allows customers to run compute and storage on premises using the same AWS APIs that are used in the AWS cloud.

In fact, VMware CEO Pat  Gelsinger joined AWS CEO Andy Jassy onstage at AWS re:Invent for a joint announcement. The two companies have been working together for some time to bring VMware to the AWS cloud. Part of this announcement flips that on its head, bringing the AWS cloud on prem to work with VMware. In both cases, AWS sells you their hardware, installs it if you wish, and will even maintain it for you.

This is an area that AWS has lagged, preferring the vision of a cloud, rather than moving back to the data center, but it’s a tacit acknowledgment that customers want to operate in both places for the foreseeable future.

The announcement also extends the company’s cloud-native-like vision. On Monday, the company announced Transit Gateways, which is designed to provide a single way to manage network resources, whether they live in the cloud or on prem.

Now AWS is bringing its cloud on prem, something that Microsoft, Canonical, Oracle and others have had for some time. It’s worth noting that today’s announcement is a public preview. The actual release is expected in the second half of next year.